CLEMSON, SC
- Conference rules prohibited the alma mater being played over the loudspeakers
after Clemson's 2-1 win over North Carolina in the ACC Men's Soccer Tournament
Quarterfinals on Tuesday night.

That didn't
stop the Tigers from locking arms and belting it out loud and clear along with
the hearty souls who stuck around for the entirety of their thrilling comeback on
a blustery, frigid night at Historic Riggs Field.

After 75
frustrating minutes, with Clemson trailing 1-0 for more than 74 of them, T.J.
Casner drove home an emphatic volley after a superb passage of play to pull his
side level.

Eight
minutes later, Kyle Fisher rose above the crowd on a corner kick with a robust header
to score the winner and punch the Tigers' collective ticket to Germantown, MD,
for the semifinals of the conference tournament.

"We just
kind of came together as a team and really just went at them," Casner said.
"And together we got two goals. It was a whole team effort."

The Tigers
(11-6-2) found themselves down after just 29 seconds, as North Carolina scored
on virtually the first possession through junior forward Cooper
Vandermaas-Peeler, who made a nifty run through the Clemson half and blasted a
left-footed shot past a diving Andrew Tarbell for a 1-0 lead.

Clemson
largely controlled the rest of the first-half play, but still went into
halftime trailing after just missing on a handful of solid scoring chances.

"I thought
we were a little bit too excited to start the game," Tiger head coach Mike
Noonan said, "and I thought we went over that emotional bell curve, where you
get your emotion up to a point where you're excited about the game, but I think
we got (too anxious) - the ball was bouncing off our foot left and right.
It was a very poor start to the game."

But
substitute Thales Moreno helped to steady the ship by creating scoring chances
on either side of the halftime interval, and by the time Casner powered his
volley into the back of the net, the Tigers were clearly deserving of being
even.

"The second
half, it would've been cruel if we hadn't scored," Noonan said. "I don't think
they got in our penalty area in the second half."

The Tigers
finally tied it up smack on the 75:00 mark, as Manolo Sanchez passed to Ara
Amirkhanian, who nodded the ball down from the left side of the box to Casner,
who blasted a right-footed volley home from close range to even the game at
1-1.

"It was a
terrific delivery from Manolo to Ara, and Ara made a really good decision,"
Noonan said. "A lot of forwards will try to head that on goal, and he just laid
it right back to T.J., who finished it exceptionally well."

From there,
Noonan said the only question in his mind was whether his team had left itself
enough time in regulation to score the game-winner.

With 8:03 remaining,
Clemson won a corner kick, and Fisher answered his coach's question
emphatically, as he rose above a horde at the edge of the six-yard box and
headed Thomas McNamara's corner into the back of the net.

"It was a
great ball by Tommy," Fisher said. "I was just very happy to get on the end of
it and put us ahead. And from then, we had to move on to the next play and make
sure we closed out the game well."

The goal was
reminiscent of the sophomore's first career goal, which came in a 2-0 win over
USC Upstate in September, when he also rose high to head home a corner.

The two
goals may have appeared similar, but this one clearly carried much greater
significance.

"Kyle's got
some special qualities, not just his technical ability heading the ball, but
he's got some special qualities when it comes to being a young man - and those
showed up tonight," Noonan said. "He's a tough kid, and he's got a desire and a
willingness that are hard to come by. The intangibles that Kyle Fisher brings
to the game are terrific."

Clemson
finished the regular season 5-4-2 in ACC play, but knew it could use a win over
the Tar Heels, who were ranked as high as 15th in this week's polls, to bolster
its NCAA tournament hopes.

"This was
basically a do-or-die match, and we put everything towards it," Casner said.
"Since the spring season this is what we've been working for, and it just feels
so good to have it all come together and get another shot at Maryland in the
semifinals."

The reigning
ACC champion Terrapins, the tournament's top seed, advanced to the semifinals
with a 2-0 victory over Boston College on Tuesday night.

Clemson fell
to Maryland 3-1 on Sept. 21 at Riggs Field, but played the Terrapins and
reigning Hermann Trophy winner Patrick Mullins tough, only to be undone by a
few lapses in concentration defensively.

After
Tuesday's victory - the Tigers' first come-from-behind win of the season - they
agreed it was the kind of performance that could provide momentum moving
forward.

"It's hard
to put it in words. It's one of the best moments since I've been at Clemson,"
Fisher said. "It was a great team win."